/sheuh rayd"/ ; esp. Brit. /sheuh rahd"/ , n.
1. charades , ( used with a sing. v. ) a game in which the players are typically divided into two teams, members of which take turns at acting out in pantomime a word, phrase, title, etc., which the members of their own team must guess.
2. a word or phrase acted out in this game.
3. a blatant pretense or deception, esp. something so full of pretense as to be a travesty.
[ 1770-80; charrad ( o ) entertainment, equiv. to charr ( á ) to chat, chatter (from imit. root) + -ado -ADE 1 ]